


Four Times Gabe Wished for Peace and Quiet, and The One Time He Wished He Hadn't

by legendarytobes



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:44:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2087517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendarytobes/pseuds/legendarytobes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five snippets in my AU version of things where Gabe Sullivan found and adopted Clark (here Caleb) instead of the Kents. He raises him as a twin alongside Chloe so they share a siblings' only relationship here. These are just fun snippets across time for them. There's a couple of surprise pairings at the end, but I don't want to spoil them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Gabe Wished for Peace and Quiet, and The One Time He Wished He Hadn't

**Author's Note:**

> This does hint at discussions over possible abortion. It never gets very far but it's implied that's something being considered.

I. Double Trouble

Gabe heard the tremendous rumble and dropped his copy of Sports Illustrated; he was confused by the noise. It sounded like it had come from upstairs from the twins' room. They were supposed to be working on their sixth grade science fair project. It was just one of those vinegar and baking soda volcanoes that Caleb was insisting should be a Vesuvius theme.

That did not create noise, and that did not lead to parts of the ceiling plaster falling from above.

Gabe stood and just managed to jump out of the way as the entire ceiling collapsed where he'd been sitting in his recliner.

Panicked and disoriented, he rushed into the room and started trying to find his children. Caleb blurred beside him, and was helping him move through the furniture and wooden floor boards. He didn't have time to ask Caleb what the Hell had just happened, not until he found his Chlo-bear. Caleb was, obviously, far faster than Gabe and eventually found her buried under what was left of her bedframe. 

Gabe swallowed hard at the arm and leg sticking out from under the wood and bent at impossible angles. "Chloe!"

His son blurred again and then everything was off of her. Gabe was rushing to the kitchen for a phone and he really needed to get one of those cell phones one of these days, when Chloe began to glow. He paused then, his breath caught in his throat. Chloe could heal the dead. He'd seen her do it with her gerbil but also there'd been the great frog rescue just this October, in which his daughter had channeled her inner animal rights activist and stolen all the biology class frogs and resurrected them for release. 

She'd even been able to heal scrapes she'd had as a kid, although he hadn't seen her glow insta-healing from paper cuts or blisters in a few years. Gabe had always assumed her power had evolved to being more outwardly focused. He was glad he'd been wrong. The familiar rose hues surged over her body and it was like time-lapse photography: her bones rearranged and healed themselves, her lungs inflated, the bruises all over her face turned back to perfect pale skin.

After the glow had died out, Chloe sat up and took in huge breaths of air. Gabe eyed his son and shook his head just slightly. He hoped Caleb would get that they'd be talking about what they'd seen later. There was no need for her to know she'd flat-out been dead for a few minutes, not when it didn't matter anymore.

"Daddy? Where's Caleb?"

Yup, that was his Chlo-bear. She'd been the one crushed by falling furniture---and why the fuck had the floor collapsed again---and she was worried her brother was okay.

Caleb kneeled down and hugged his sister. He was catching up with her, not quite as tall as she was yet, but definitely closing that gap. "I'm fine."

"I was pretty worried. I know you're strong and don't bruise that easily, but---"

"Yeah, me too," he said, hugging her and then stepping aside for Gabe to take his turn. 

"Chlo-bear, don't scare me like that."

She smiled and stood up. "I didn't do it, not really."

Gabe leaned back and eyed both of his "twins." While he and Moira had found Caleb during the shower, as far as Chloe and he knew, they were full-blood siblings. One day Moira had always wanted to tell Caleb the truth about his incredible origins. She'd been adamant about it even back in the months after they'd found him. Then she'd gotten sick, accidentally hurt Chloe and was in Fairview Sanitarium. What Moira wanted didn't matter anymore. It was best for Caleb if he never knew, Gabe was sure of it.

Still, he knew that blush spreading over Caleb's cheeks as well as he knew that mischievious glint in his daughter's eye.

"What did you two do?"

"It was her idea!"

He broke apart from his daughter and channeled his inner hardass, which, really was his pathetic imitation of Sam Lane, his wife's brother. That guy was the ultimate fun-suck. "Excuse me? What   
was your idea?"

"Well," Caleb said, staring at the floor. "I...she might have made a bet with me."

"What type of bet?"

"I bet Caleb he couldn't punch through the wall. I didn't think it was load bearing!" Chloe defended as if that made it any damn better.

Some days, Gabe wished he could check into Fairview too, at least it seemed quiet...

"Chloe, Caleb?"

"Yeah?"

"Yes, daddy?" 

They chimed, although he noticed Chloe was being extra solicitious and drawing out the "daddy" as if she were still eight years old. Oh no, he wasn't falling for that again.

"I hope you really like chores because you're going to be doing all of them until you're thirty."  
**

II. Growth Spurts

"I hate her; she's awful!" Chloe exclaimed, taking a sip of a frozen coffee drink that was at least twenty ounces and Gabe really should stop her from doing that. Of course, he wasn't even sure that drugs, even caffeine, still worked on his daughter. 

Hmm, maybe if he told her it would stunt her growth?

He shrugged and sipped his Coke before biting into his overpriced soggy bagel at The Talon. "How is she awful?" Gabe asked, gesturing toward the front counter. 

His boy was sitting at one of the stools, ostensibly studying the menu. He had to admit it was a paper-thin ruse. Caleb had been reading it for twenty minutes, and The Talon had been open for a year since Lana'd wrangled the money out of Lex. Most of his son's allowance went toward eating there, and he'd been twice a week for over a year. That said, if he kept pouring over the food options, Caleb could hide the fact that he was mostly just staring at Lana Lang, varsity cheerleader, coffee shop owner, and basically the most popular girl in school.

For Caleb's sake, Gabe hoped Lana would one day return the attention.

He wasn't sure she would.

"She's just so snotty, daddy," Chloe continued, glaring daggers at the other girl. "She cheated on Whitney after he'd shipped out---like not even a week---with that Fitz guy. Do I need to even go into how The Beanery had all those random health code violations get filed against them the month after her shop opened."

"You don't think."

"I can't prove, but I believe it, yeah. She's a bitch. The things she said about Jody Melville after Jody got sick, they were awful."

Gabe considered that. He'd actually liked Jody. She'd hung around with his kids a bit in eighth grade since she was a friend of their buddy Pete. It was a shame that she'd become some sort of fat-sucking mutant. He heard, for what it was worth, that her treatments at Belle Reve were going well and that she was at least able to keep on weight without hurting others now.

"Well, I can understand how it was scary. I mean Pete was scared too, and he almost got killed."

"But Jody can't help her mutation," Chloe countered.

Gabe sighed and patted his daughter's hand. She wasn't as clever at hiding her feelings as she assumed she was. Chloe could have easily said "I can't help my mutation." It was easier hiding his children and their gifts in Smallville. Hell, in the short two years they'd lived here, his kids had dealth with people who could compel anyone with a touch, bone morphers, thieves who phased through vaults, fat-suckers, and rogue telekinetics. That was the short list! Still, no one actually talked about what was wrong with Smallville. Everyone knew the meteors had done terrible things, and that, especially now as they hit puberty, a lot of teenagers were turning up with powers and psychosis. However, standard protocol was never to discuss it and simply remark how sad it was when one of Caleb's and Chloe's classmates ended up at Belle Reve.

It terrified Gabe. If Moira were already in Fairview and so many of his daughter's classmates were going crazy as they matured into their full powers, would Chloe change too? He didn't think she could use her power against anyone, a small favor, but she could go blank like Moira, end up with that same dead-eyed catatonic glaze.

"Daddy?"

He smiled again and forced himself to focus on his Chlo-bear now. If he only had so much time with her, he needed to make the best of it and not scare her. Chloe could never know about that. He might have failed to keep Caleb's origins secret, but he wouldn't fail her.

"Sorry, I know that she must have said not nice things..."

"She said them just the other day in history class. I have fourth period, but Caleb's in sixth. Anyway, we were talking about civil rights and, one of the kids made a joke about the 'Smallville Specials.' Ugh, like being normal is so fucking amazing."

"Language!"

She sighed and set her cup down. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not, but you will be after you do laundry for everyone for a week."

"Dad!"

"Don't curse."

"Fine, but anyway, Lana made this totally serious comment that they needed to find us, the mutants I mean," she added, her voice a whisper. "And then just shut us all up. She hates people who are different. If she thinks a meteor-infected person is bad, I can't even imagine how she'd feel about an alien."

"Caleb's more than that."

"Of course, he's better than her because he's nice to everybody, and he's a real hero. She doesn't deserve to breathe the same air."

Gabe glanced back over his shoulder to wear Caleb was smiling nervously at Lana as she served him a black coffee and a muffin. 

"Sweetheart, he might have to learn that lesson about beauty on the inside being the most important on his own. You can't save him from his mistakes. He has to learn on his own."

Chloe sighed and pushed a choppy piece of bang behind her ear. "He's gonna get hurt."

"And even with what you can do, sometimes people still get hurt," he said, glancing back once more to watch Caleb watch Lana bent over the cappaccino maker.

Oh lord, he had to teach his son how to be inconspicuous checking out girls' behinds. All men did it. There was just an art to it, one that helped you from getting punched in the face for being creepy.

"God, he's so pathetic," Chloe chimed in. "Could he be more transparent and whoa!"

Gabe was up almost as fast as she was and rushing for the fire extinguisher. The wall above Lana had burst into flames and Chloe was frantically throwing people's water and soda glasses on it. Caleb was nowhere to be found, and that worried Gabe. Obviously, his son could just put the fire out with his hands in front of people. (He physically could with no witnesses around, however. Gabe knew this from a bad tuna noodle casserole disaster when Chloe'd tried cooking last year.) Still, it wasn't like his son to just ditch an emergency. Focusing on the flames before him, Gabe activated the extinguisher and helped douse the fire.

Chloe was already stammering about how bad old copper wiring could be in turn of the century buildings, and Gabe had no idea why she was bothering. She only lied like that, usually, when Caleb broke something or if she had to divert from her own glow. But his son couldn't have...he'd never set things on fire before.

Of course, he'd never floated before and then the day after freshman homecoming he had.

Sighing, Gabe left Chloe on clean-up and obfuscation duty and walked to the car. His house had to be the only place Caleb would go if he was developing a new power.  
**  
"Son?" he asked, voice frantic. He'd already checked the living room as well as Caleb's bedroom. The twins were too old to share once they'd moved to more space in Smallville. The only place left was the basement. Gabe was surprised Caleb would go there, but still hoped he had as he hurried down the steps. It was unfinished and mostly empty save for boxes and cobwebs, anyway. "Caleb, where are you?"

He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he found his son huddled in the farthest corner, his back against the old stone foundation, and his eyes slammed shut.

"I was afraid you'd run off somewhere."

"I thought about it, but I didn't trust myself to keep my eyes open any longer than I had to in order to get home."

"What happened, son? Your sister spun a pretty story about old wiring, but she wouldn't bother if you hadn't...but you can't...so I'm very confused."

His son looked up at him, finally daring to open his eyes and Gabe tried not to gasp. Though their glow was dimming, they were still a shimmering, dusty orange color. "I can now. God, what am I?"

Gabe offered his son a patient smile and sat down next to him. Caleb flinched and started reaching up to his face to cover his eyes. Gabe blocked him from doing it. "They're green again, you know."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I have faith that you won't hurt me."

"More than I have. I could have killed everyone at The Talon."

"I don't think it would have gotten that far. You were able to stop and get to a safe distance. Besides, you know Chloe had your back. That's what superhero partners do."

"You do. I...thanks for the help."

"Always. I wish I had any answers for you. All I have is your ship and the tablet, and I can't read either."

"And I can't either," Caleb sighed and looked down at his hands. "The strength was hard enough to get used to and I know I'm still getting stronger. I'm a lot stronger than I was back in Metropolis."

Gabe smirked, despite himself. "Chloe told me all about the stack of 'jockstrap' cars you made last year at Homecoming, I'd say you're pretty damn strong."

He shrugged. "I can do a lot more than that now. I can feel it. I, uh, don't go stacking semis or something."

"Thank you."

"But I know I probably could. This laser crap? This is different. I could burn someone alive."

Gabe sighed and squeezed his son's shoulder. "But you didn't."

His son looked back up at him and his eyes shone then, but just from the tears welling in them. "What if it never stops? What if I stop looking human or it gets stronger and I kill people or---"

"We'll figure it out."

Caleb blurred and was on the other side of the basement. That made Gabe frown. His son wasn't one to speed off on him, was more polite than that. What had he said?

"Do you know why it started?"

Gabe stood and brushed the dust off his jeans. "Were you angry at something."

Caleb blushed and looked away. "I got horny, okay?"

"Well, we all do that. I mean, not Chloe because I'm making her take orders at 18, but guys do that, sure."

"No, dad, I saw Lana bent over and the next thing I know the wall's on fire. How do you control that?"

"No, that's not...you must be mistaken."

"I'm not. I'm from some terrible, freak planet where being arouse makes you shoot fire from your goddamn eyeballs!"

Gabe shook his head. "Don't curse."

"Like that's the most of my problems."

"And I raised you better than that. You know the trigger, we'll figure the rest out somehow."

"I can't really date," Caleb said, still focusing on the floor before him. "I know that. Sometimes I think my stupid crush on Lana is almost as much about knowing she'll never really notice me back. I mean, at least before, even if I did finally get a date we could do a little."

"I can find a monastery too."

"You know what I mean. I could never...you know what I can do to metal. I'd kill somebody so I can't have a real relationship."

"You're fifteen. A real relationship for you should and would not include that under my watch even if you were human."

He blushed, all the way up to the tips of his ears. "I know, but I can't even look at girls now. I hate this."

"I can't begin to understand how you feel," he said, moving across the room and hugging his son. Caleb could worry about being a grown up later. "But, I am sad that you're sad and I promise we'll figure this out. Chloe's awfully smart."

Caleb pulled back and laughed. "She is at that." He started up the stairs, his mood seemingly mollified until he added something else that froze Gabe's blood. "You should have taken me to Uncle Sam. That's probably where I belong anyway."  
**

III. The Bull Elephant in the Room

Gabe had had a busy fall. First, his house had been basically destroyed in another meteor shower, he'd had his daughter dead for six hours and wake up in a morgue drawer from healing her cousin Lois, who'd been injured in said shower, and then his son had managed to lose his powers for the whole summer because Jor-El---now with his own Ice Fortress, like that was a good idea---had made him mortal. Selfishly, Gabe hoped that Caleb would never get them back, but about two weeks ago the Fortress had resuscitated him after he'd been shot to ostensibly death while partnering with Chloe to stop a nuclear bomb.

He needed a few quiet weeks in Hawaii, that was all.

What he didn't need was to walk into the room Chloe and Lois were sharing at the hotel the insurance company was still putting them up in to see Lois rolling her eyes at Caleb who had just lit a candle on fire.

In front of her.

"Are you serious!" Gabe yelled and he flinched a little at that. He wasn't a yeller by nature, but had his twins, so to speak, completely lost they damn minds. He liked Lois fine. She was far better than either her dad, Sam, or her sister, Lucy the grifter. She'd also offered Caleb and Chloe a taste of having a more extended family this last year of her repeating high school in Smallville. That didn't mean that he wanted her to know about his kids. "What the Hell do you think you're doing, Caleb?"

"Uncle Gabe, it's fine. Caleb's trying to impress me with his light show. I don't think it's all that great. I mean, it's not like he raises the dead. It doesn't matter if he has all the other superpowers, Chloe's is the best." Lois smirked up at him, and he stifled the urge to throttle her. "Girls always are better, naturally."

"Lois, in my room now," he said, gesturing toward the door.

"Daddy, it's fine. I mean, I figured you'd---"

"No, Chloe Anne Sullivan, it is not fine. You, Caleb and I will be talking so much punishment when I'm done. Lois, now."  
**

She strode into his room, brimming with her usual sass and bravado. Lois was nice, in her own way, and the first good female friend Chloe had ever had. That much was true. However, she sometimes got on Gabe's nerves. Sure, she had great taste in comedy movies and music, but she still had her father's habit for railroading everyone. 

"Uncle Gabe, it's completely fine. I woke up while Chloe was still glowing, and then I rushed to help Caleb at Lex's mansion. I've known a while. I mean, the powers from Caleb are newer to watch since he was normal this summer, well, for him."

Gabe shut the door and glowered at Lois. She was a tall girl so he couldn't even tower over her, not that he could threaten a third degree black belt. She'd have him in crutches before he could blink. Still, a little deference would be nice.

"They had no right to tell you."

"I saved Caleb's life and saw Chloe save mine. I haven't told anyone in close to five months, not even you that I know," she pointed out, smirking back at him. "I think the twins are awesome!"

"I'm glad you still treat your cousins the same, although you could be nicer to Caleb."

"He's so wedgie bait."

"He humors you."

"No shit."

Gabe shook his head. "Language."

"I grew up on different military bases. I could swear in four languages by the time I was seven. Deal with it."

"Your cousins aren't like you."

"Because Chloe's a mutant, and Caleb's...what does he call it?"

"Kryptonian," he corrected, starting to pace. "No, I mean they were raised with manners, try and respect that for me."

"Oh Chloe knows how to cuss, believe me."

"Lois," he replied sternly. "You have to be completely honest with me, please, this could affect Chloe and Caleb seriously. Did you tell your sister or your dad?"

Lois sobered and frowned up t him. "You don't trust me."

"Honey, it's not that you're not very nice and Aunt Moira didn't love you and I don't like you. It's not that at all."

"Sure as sh...stuff sounds like it," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you think I'm stupid."

"Not really. I don't think you pay attention well and that's why you repeated senior year. But I can't afford to trust anyone, not since I adopted Caleb and, especially, after Chloe started healing things. If Sam Lane ever even suspected they were different, that Caleb was an alien..."

"...I can do the math. He'd cut Caleb into pieces and then make him a weapon, probably do stuff to Chloe, too, to see if he could use her power. You think that thought didn't scream into my brain the minute Caleb told me about the shower and why he had to get the stones together? I would never tell Lucy, she would squeal in a second if she thought it could get Daddy's favor or, worse, sit on it and use it to blackmail you." 

"Oh, I don't know if she'd do that last part."

"No, she would. Lucy's the best con artist that I've ever seen. Anyway, I know what would happen. I'd never do that, not ever."

"I want to believe that, but I'm the only one who's taken care of them since Moira left."

Lois sighed and sat down on Caleb's bed. "Mom told me what happened to Aunt Moira before she died, did you know that?"

"That she left?"

"That she's a mutant too and catatonic in a hospital. She said that I had to take care of Chloe and Caleb extra hard when I did get to see them cause Aunt Moira was never coming back."

Gabe worked hard to try and remember how to speak. "Do they know this?"

"I'm a way better secret keeper than you think, Uncle Gabe. Come on, you need me."

"I do now? How's that?"

"You won't be around forever, will you?"

"I'm not that old," he hedged, knowing full well that his last cardiologist visit had been fine, but he'd always have a weakened heart from the powers Jor-El had once gifted him. "What's your point?"

"She can heal from anything, right?"

"We've not gone out of our way to test it."

"But she heals very well, doesn't she? And Caleb's basically even nuclear bomb proof."

"Now that his powers are back, yes."

Lois smiled sadly back at him. "Then, I'm not the best biology student---"

"Understatement."

"But even I can do that math. The odds they're only going to be here for seventy or eighty years kind of sucks. You could use a partner to keep an eye on the two of them, and you definitely will need someone to still do it fifty or sixty years from now."

"Lois, maybe it's best if you just went home and pretended you didn't know this."

"Too late. My little cousins need me, and you'll just have to get used to it."  
**

IV. Family Ties

"Say it again!" Gabe yelled, glaring with all the authority he knew he didn't have at the collected Legion in front of him. Most of his anger was focused on that smarmy rat, Rok, who was convinced that because "Chloe Sullivan" wasn't in any of the official Kal-El records circa the year 3,000 that meant she needed to die today. "Tell Caleb to kill his sister."

The redhead who reminded Gabe of one of the Harry Potter characters at least looked scared to answer. Good, someone should be scared. Gabe was a hair-puller. "She's not, though. Kal-El isn't related to her."

"I am," his son said, and Gabe squeezed his shoulder as they stood between the Legion and Chloe's body. "She's my sister. I don't care if it's not genetic or that she's mostly human. We're still twins, and I won't kill her, not now and not ever."

The blonde girl, Imra maybe, shook her head. Her voice was gentle and sweet, as if that made her orders any kinder. "If you don't destroy the host and soon, Brainiac will win. He'll infect every computer on Earth, and then he'll lobotomize any human near them. The people around you are just the beginning."

"There has to be another way," Gabe begged.

Rok regaded him coolly, and Gabe didn't care right then that that guy had super powers. He was going to punch him hard if he laid even a hand on his Chlo-bear. "There isn't. Kal-El, don't let human sentimentality cloud your judgement. The records said---"

Caleb stood to his full height and maybe it was Gabe's imagination, but was his voice just a bit deeper as he spoke, more commanding? "Then they're wrong. You don't know anything about me or my family. If you think I'd kill any human, ever, let alone my sister to save the world, then you don't get me at all. I'll save her and everyone else because that's what I do. Now let's go over this again."

For the first time in his life, despite his children's questionable outfits for patrol, despite all he'd seen Caleb do and survive, despite his fantastic heritage, this was the first time Gabe truly saw him as a full-fledged superhero. Warrior Angel couldn't have done better.

He squeezed his son's shoulder one more time and whispered so only Caleb could hear, "I've never been prouder of you and when she's up, so will Chloe."  
**

V. Eavesdropping is a Dangerous Pastime

Gabe woke up later from his post-Thanksgiving coma than he meant to. He was spending the weekend at Oliver Queen's penthouse. Lois had invited them all, Chloe and Caleb, included to spend the holiday with her and her husband. Her father was stationed in Guam, Lucy was supposedly on the run from Interpol in Romania, and Oliver was one of the world's most famous orphans. As far as extended family was concerned, Gabe and his children were all they had.

He was pleased with that. Lois had proven a good ally for his children in the nine years since she'd come into the fold. If she'd offered them a microwavable dinner in a one bedroom loft, he'd have accepted. The fact that Oliver had a gourmet chef and some of the best edibles in Star City, well, that just made it better.

It didn't suck to know billionaires, even if he wasn't a fan of Bruce Wayne very much. Why he was always visiting the twins, Gabe could guess, but wasn't technically allowed to know. Let's just put it this way, Bruce had none of his former fraternity brother, Thomas's levity or warmth. He might probably be The Dark Knight, but he was also a stick in the mud.

He didn't even like Bill Murray movies!

Maybe he wasn't actually human, except neither was Caleb and he loved Groundhog Day. Huh, maybe being raised by a British guy had ruined him.

Anyway, Lois had dragged Oliver out to Black Friday savings, and he'd been asleep, and the penthouse was way too quiet. Gabe normally loved peace and quiet---he so rarely got any, risk of raising superheroes---but he also was suspicious of it. Quiet gave Chloe time to plan. That was never good.

Sighing, he walked down the massive hall to the bedroom his twins were sharing. That room was as big as his whole first apartment after college and accommodated two king beds. God, if only he could invent something or whatever it took to make bank like this. As he approached, he was relieved to hear his kids talking to each other. For a bit, he was afraid they'd broken their promise to take all of Thanksgiving off and tried to sneak in a patrol.

If anyone needed time off, it was Superman and Flamebird. They'd been founding members of the League, gone through Hell a hundred times over. They were only about a year or two out from all the horrible Darkseid mess that had almost brought with it a literal Apocalypse and a planet hurtling toward Earth. Wonder Woman could cover for the night. She wasn't American after all. His kids deserved down time.

Also, okay, maybe Gabe wasn't the most noble guy ever, but it occurred to him that sometimes his children tried to spare his feelings. They offered sometimes what they could of their lives at The Daily Planet or of patrols---never the League, identities were sacred there---but he always worried they were feeding him the pretty version to spare his feelings. Considering how little Chloe had told them of Brainiac and how that had almost cost her her life and technically had for the eight worst months of his existence, maybe that wasn't the worst idea just to double check.

Firm in his resolve, Gabe leaned against the door, wishing all the while he'd even thought to bring a glass from the kitchen.

Dad's never going to approve, his son said quietly. I mean, I haven't really had anyone since Lana left after everything with Brainiac. She got in the middle of all that weirdness, left me a "Dear John," and never came back.

And good riddance as far as Gabe was concerned. He'd never liked Lana, but, Caleb wasn't exactly wrong, her departure had been over five years ago. Granted there were always emergencies in their lives and Caleb was special to begin with. That hadn't stopped Lois from marrying Oliver or Chloe, much to everyone's frustration, from dating and marrying (thanks Brainiac infection) Jimmy Olsen. Even after all that mess, she'd dated some Leaguers here or there, though nothing permanent yet. Too bad, he'd really liked Bart Allen.

Now that was a kid with a sense of humor.

Lana sucked, Chloe said oh so prosaically. Caleb, Dad's gonna figure it out some time. I mean, it's not like you two don't hang around each other a lot, even outside of Watchtower duty and superheroing.

Oh so Caleb had met a girl? Maybe that nice Wonder Woman, she seemed strong. He sort of hoped not that girl with the wings, was it Eagle Girl? Whatever, she seemed grouchy on CNN.

Chloe, it's Dad. Gabe Sullivan as in wanted you to be a nun till you were out of college, and it obviously wasn't going to happen? Gabe Sullivan as in still goes to Mass every Sunday even if his son literally fell out of the sky and probably disproves a bunch of theology anyway.

Meh, maybe God made Krypton first, realized you guys sucked, and made us as we are far more awesome.

I'm better, Caleb joked, his tone flippant. The point is that he's never going to get that Bruce and I---

Gabe blinked and worked hard to keep himself from making a gasp. Caleb would hear that. Wow, huh, he hadn't seen that one coming at all. Not after seven years of non-stop Lana obsession. It didn't bother him about the gender as much as the fact that he genuinely didn't like Bruce's gruffness and lack of personality. Billionaire-come-possible superhero or not, Caleb could do better. What about that nice Impulse for him.

Again, a guy with taste!

Chloe sighed. Look, Dad's gonna like what you have to tell him better than what I have to tell him.

Huh? But you're not really dating anyone so then I have all the thunder! He's going to hear it from me and kill me and kill Bruce and...

Please, Dad's not a Neanderthal, and I think even if he did do that---and he so won't---he couldn't take Batman in a fight in any universe.

Ha! So Gabe had been right. Called it.

Then who are you dating, and why didn't I know it? Oh, did Bart and you get back together?

Uh, not exactly? Chloe was hesitating, and that scared Gabe. Chloe never hesitated. She was almost as bad as Lois about stampeding through everything. Look, I...oh Hell, I'm pregnant.

And that was his cue.

Gabe threw open the door and glared at both his children. He didn't care if they were superheroes or not or if they faced down The Joker and Lex Luthor on a weekly basis. They also had to answer ot one Gabriel Doyle Sullivan first.

"Excuse me?"

Chloe yipped and hopped off her bed. "Daddy, you were listening!"

"A little and, Caleb, we'll talk later. I think you can do better than that humorless uptight ass, but that's your decision."

"Dad, oh God," Caleb said, stammering from his seat. "When I said that with Chloe, it was like hypothetical and besides if anyone mentioned anything about Batman that was not a real thing."

"Obviously, he's Batman. I knew that within the month of him coming to Gotham. He returns, alive, and then there's a hero with more expensive toys than Oliver. Oh yeah, I can definitely figure that out. That's not a big deal, exactly. Chloe, you explain and you explain now before I ship you off to a convent!"

"I'm twenty-seven for one thing," she huffed, glaring back at him as if she had heat vision. "For another, it's a little late. I'm about two months along."

"Who's is it?"

"John Jones, yes I know him from night work. He's a police officer for the Metropolis P.D. when not on League time."

Caleb swore, a foul littany that surprised Gabe. He was gentler by nature than either Lois or Chloe, far less likely to swear than the rest of his family. Hell, Gabe was pretty sure he'd even added a few terms he'd picked up from his recently out of stasis biological cousin Kara Zor-El. Turning and facing Chloe, his son just shook his head.

"Un-fucking-believable. How long have you been screwing him."

"Wow Caleb, way to debase that. John and I have been seeing each other secretly for about seven months. Obviously we've been sleeping with each other for a while too."

"Oh obviously," Caleb huffed, his eyes simmering red. Gabe had rarely seen him so angry. "I'm going to kill him."

"No, you won't."  
"Oh but I could kill him and let's see if I can."

"Caleb! Chloe! Enough! I'm not pleased either, but we're not killing anyone." 

Caleb started to pace. "You really don't understand."

"No, I guess I don't. I'm not thrilled with this but you're angrier than I'd have expected."

Caleb shook his head and glared at Chloe's stomach, then squinted. Gabe understood that he was X-raying her child. It shocked him to see Caleb shudder after doing it. "Wow, you've really messed up. I've seen you screw things up so many times by lying to me, Chlo, but this is...we'll have to go to the Fortress to fix this."

"No, wait, we're not 'fixing,' anything," Gabe corrected. "I'm angry but we don't...not in this family."

"Maybe you'll want to go back on that just this once," Caleb bit back, still eying his sister. "J'onn J'onz knew my birth father, was a bounty hunter for him."

"So he's Kryptonian?"

That possibly said Freudian things that Gabe didn't want to contemplate too closely.

"No, Dad, he's a Martian, and they're naturally seven feet tall, green skinned and have giant red eyes. Congratulations Grandpa."

Gabe wasn't sure what the appropriate response was for that, but he was pretty sure his body decided for him when he started experiencing chest pains and then, blessfully, passed out.


End file.
